On one of the first hot days of the season, the Minnehaha Redhawks sweep Mounds Park Academy (MPA) 9-0. In only the third game of this year, the girls varsity softball team was already on fire.
Hours before the game started, the team warmed up in the Randolph campus diamond. Teammates arrived on school buses and cars, but six girls were already there. The Spartans on the Redhawks co-op team play a valuable role this season. St. Paul Academy and Summit School has been part of the Minnehaha and Twin Cities Academy co-op since 2024, after numerous other co-ops. The switch was made to expand Minnehaha’s team and use the SPA diamond for practice and home games.
The 2024 season began strongly with an overall better team performance. The Redhawks finished their season with an 11-8 win-loss record but plummeted to 17-1 losses-to-wins the following year. So far this year, the girls varsity softball team has a record of 3-5.
Ninth-grader Olive Goff, who plays second catcher and outfielder, said, “It’s a little weird that we’re from two different schools, but I think we’re getting tighter as the season continues.”
The team webpage states, “The level of competition varies from year to year as our roster develops and we are currently a younger team building toward the future.” After a tough last season, the growing team is clearly on the upswing.
On April 15 in their game against MPA, the team slid into victory with nine runs in the first four innings — the game likely ending for what the Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) considers a “severe run” or “mercy rule.” The Redhawks scored seven runs in the fourth inning alone. The team lost 12-2 to MPA last season.
For new players formerly on the SPA middle school team, the co-op has been an adjustment, but a good one- full of new friends and experiences.
First baseman, right fielder and ninth-grader Liv Cole describes their learning experience with the Redhawks, “I feel like I’m learning how to be on a team, I’m learning a lot more about how to talk to people that I don’t know as well. Like someone I’ve never met before and they go to a completely different school, I can still talk to them.”
Goff and Cole stepped up to bat amid cheering fans, as did sophomore Zoe Wagner, eighth graders Savannah Briggs and Alida Nestingen and seventh grader Sabina Good. These Spartans also performed impressively on the diamond and in the outfield.
The Redhawks are enjoying a wildly successful start to their season, but for a young team to succeed, there is always growth.
“I wish more people joined and because there’s not really a lot of SPA kids, we don’t have enough for two full teams this year,” Goff said. “I just wish people knew, like, you don’t have to know all the rules. Your team and your coaches will help you through it. But just trying something new, joining and sticking with it is important for our team.”
At the end of an exciting game, the Redhawks huddle to discuss what went well. After the team breaks it down, they race to put away the equipment, bumping into each other and laughing as they stack bases and rake the diamond. Parents chat and congratulate their kids.
When everything is done, teammates board the bus back to Minnehaha and players drive home. A team with players from so many different schools really knows how to come together on the field.
“It’s just like a really nice community,” Cole said, “and that’s cool.”
Their next home game is on May 12.
